Piaget's stages of intellectual development Flashcards
stages on intellectual development definition
Piaget identified four stages if intellectual development. each stage is characterised by a different level of reasoning ability. although the exact stages vary from child to child, the key point is that all children develop through the same sequences of stages
object permanence definition
ability to realise that an object still exists when it passes out of the visual field. Piaget believed that this ability appears at around 8 months of age. before this children lose interest in an object when they cant see it and presumably are no longer aware of its existence
conservation definition
ability to realise that quantity remains the same even when the appearance of an object or group of objects has changed such as when liquid of the same volume is poured between vessels of different shapes
egocentrism definition
child’s tendency to only be able to see the world form their own point of view. this applies to both physical objects (demonstrated by 3 mountains task) and arguments in which child can only see their own perspective
class inclusion definition
advanced classification skill in which we recognise that class of objects have subsets and are themselves of larger classes. pre-operational children usually struggle to place things in more than one class
what are the 4 stages of intellectual development
-sensorimotor stage
-pre-operational stage
-stage of concrete operations
-stage of formal operations
what is the age of the sensorimotor stage
0-2 years
what is the age of the pre-operational stage
2-7
what is the age of the concrete operations stage
7-11
what is the age of the formal operations stage
11+
sensorimotor stage - what did Piaget suggest the babys early focus is
physical sensations and developing some basic physical co-ordination
sensorimotor stage - how did Piaget suggest babies learn
trial and error that they can deliberate move their body in particular ways, and eventually that they can move other objects. the baby also develops an understanding in the first 2 years that other people are separate objects and acquire some basic language
sensorimotor stage - when does baby become capable of object permanence
8 months
sensorimotor stage - what is object permanence
understanding that objects still exists when they are out of sight
sensorimotor stage - how did Piaget discover object permanence
observed babies looking at objects and watched as the objects were removed from sight. he noted that before 8 months the babies immediately switched attention form object but after 8 months they would continue to look for it. this cause Piaget to believe that it was at this age babies understood objects continued to exists when removed from view
pre-operational stage - 3 parts
-conservation
-egocentrism
-class inclusion
pre-operational stage - what id babies reasoning ability at this age
can use language but lack adult reasoning ability so display some characteristic errors in reasoning
pre-operational stage - what is conservation
basic mathematical understanding that quantity remains constant even when the appearance of the object changes
pre-operational stage - Piaget number conservation
-placed 2 rows of 8 identical counters side by side
-found even young children could tell that there was the same number of counters in each row
-when one row had counters pushed together they the pre-operational children struggled to conserve and said there were less counters in that row
pre-operational stage - Piaget liquid conservation
found when two identical containers were placed side by side with contents at the same height children said they had the same volume of liquid
-when some liquid was moved to a taller, thinner vessel the younger children said there was more liquid in the taller vessel
pre-operational stage - egocentrism
see world from own point of view
pre-operational stage - Piaget and Inhelder 3 mountain task for demonstrating egocentrism
-children shown 3 mountains each with different features of a cross, a house or snow
- a doll was placed at side of the model so that it faced the scene at a different angle from the child
-the child was asked to identify what the doll could “see” form a range of pictures
-pre-operational children struggled and often chose the picture that matched their own point of view
pre-operational stage - class inclusion
children begin to understand that things fall into categories so most pre-operational children can classify that pugs are dogs
pre-operational stage - Piaget and Inhelder class inclusion study
-children under 7 struggle with advanced skill of class inclusion ( that classes have subsets)
-showed 7-8 year olds pictures of 5 dogs and 2 cats and asked are there more dogs or animals
-children responded that there are more dogs
-this was interpreted that younger children cannot simultaneously see a dog as member of dog class and animal class